The number of people requesting to legally change their gender reached a record high in the past 12 months, after the Supreme Court’s ruling on sex.
There were 1,987 applications for gender recognition certificates (GRCs) received in the year to September, the highest for any 12-month period.
There were 730 applications between April and June, government figures show, the highest quarterly number since recording of official data in this area began in 2009.
Trans rights campaigners in London in May
HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
In April the Supreme Court ruled that for the purposes of the Equality Act, the definition of a woman must be based on biology. It means that in areas deemed to be single-sex spaces, such as changing rooms, biological sex determines who is allowed to use them.
Previously, the law had been interpreted to mean that if a transgender woman, who is biologically male, held a GRC, she would be treated as a woman in areas such as sex discrimination law, single-sex services or spaces, and sex-based positive-action measures.
However, the court made the judgment that even if someone acquired a GRC they must be treated, for these purposes, as their biological sex.
In the year to September some 1,201 GRCs were granted. The slim majority, 662, were granted to those who were born male, while 539 were granted to people who were born female.
Millennials and Gen Z were the group most likely to legally change their gender. In other generations, 28 GRCS were granted for those born before 1959, in the generation commonly known as baby boomers.
Some 82 and 97 applications were successful for those born between 1960 and 1969, and 1970 to 1979 respectively, commonly known as Generation X. Older millennials, born between 1980 and 1989, accounted for 172 GRCS, while younger millennials born up to 1999 were the largest group at 493.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha, those born after 1997, had 329 GRCs granted, however that figure would only only cover those born before 2007 because you must be 18 to apply for a GRC.
The Gender Recognition Act came into effect on April 4, 2005, giving adults the right legally to change the gender that was recorded on their birth certificate. This is done by applying for a GRC, a document that shows a person has satisfied the criteria for changing their legal gender.
Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns for the charity Sex Matters, said: “The first generation of young people who were taught about gender identity in school and university, and encouraged to choose their own sex, are adults now, and here is this huge rise in applications from people aged 18 to 35. This seems to show that promoting gender identity just makes more people question whether they might be trans.
“The Supreme Court ruled that a GRC does not give a person the right to access opposite-sex spaces but it also generated a lot of media coverage of people with transgender identities, and that may also have fuelled demand. The fee is only £5 now, which is surprising for something as serious as changing your legally recorded sex and getting a new birth certificate.
